[pmmail-list] Spam -- your definition

[jay gee]

Trevor, PMMail OS/2 Support, wrote:

>On Thu, 30 May 2002 09:50:43 -0500, Oberon wrote:
>
>>No, but they call on the phone you pay to have in your home.  This analogy is
>>closer to what happens with spam in most cases than your analogy.  Many of us
>>don't pay by the piece for our e-mail, it's a flat subscription rate, same as
>>your home phone line.  To that end, I tell telemarketers that I will listen
>>to their pitch when I receive a contribution toward my phone bill.
>
>This seems rational but I believe that Ann was implying that the cost
>of transferring spam through the Internet is born by businesses, who
>then pass on the costs to us in our monthly subscriptions.
>
>However, again, this is analagous to the phone system. Daily business
>phone calls increase the load on the phone network and the phone
>companies pass these costs on to all users -- businesses and home
>users alike. So it would seem again that we are applying a double
>standard to commercial advertising by email that does not exist in
>other similar media.

When you increase the load on the phone network as a business
you are charged extra for it.  If you need extra lines, you pay for
them.  The amount of infrastructure needed to make a million
telephone calls per day is substantial and expensive.

The amount of infrastructure to send a million email is a PC,
a list, a dsl line, and an open relay.  Monstrous difference in
cost of making contact.

If the cost of sending UCE/UBE were fifty cents per recipient,
the amount of spam we all receive would fall by over 90%.

Jay Gee

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